


Together Or Not At All

by pieandangels



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-24
Updated: 2013-04-24
Packaged: 2017-12-09 08:32:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/772169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pieandangels/pseuds/pieandangels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My interpretation of how s8 might end, based off Russ Hamilton's tweets on August 23, 2013</p>
            </blockquote>





	Together Or Not At All

We all die together.

This is the end. There they stand, Team Free Will, the Gates of Hell in front of them, an army of demons behind. There is no turning back. Kill or be killed. Dean shoots Cas a look, and he returns it with a smile. There is no time now to talk about who they have become or what they mean to each other. It is enough that they both know. They needn't ruin the feeling by confining it to words. It's so much more than words. 

Sam looks like hell. His skin has paled and he has purple circles under his eyes. He doesn't look human anymore, skeletally thin. He takes a deep breath and his brother looks up at him.

"Let's do it," Sam says. Dean wants to knock him over and somehow suck the poison from within his baby brother, but he knows he can't. It's all up to Sam now. He takes another breath - Dean doesn't want to think about the blood that must be filling Sam's lungs, killing him slowly - and begins to recite, in Enochian, just as Castiel taught him. He knows the plan. Open the Gates, run inside, and close them again. Forever. It means death, but it doesn't matter. Sam knows Dean plans to run in with him. Die together or not at all, that's what Dean said. But Sam's determined to close them before his brother can come inside. He knows it will be painful for Dean, but he also knows that Dean has Cas now, and they'll get through it together.

Then he falls.

"Dean," Cas warns, and Dean turns to see the demons coming closer, led by Abaddon, her bright red hair still perfectly curled on top of her head. The Gates of Hell are glowing pale red, and so is Sammy. Dean falls to his knees, reaching for his brother. He's alive, but only just. There are tears in his eyes, and Dean doesn't know what to do. They have to close the Gates. There's no other option. But Sam is so weak.

And then, with no warning, as Dean reaches out to touch his brother's arm, the red glow suddenly transfers. It begins to fill Dean, burning hot. Dean feels as though every piece of his soul is being shredded and set on fire. This is what Sam has been living with for months.

"Dean!" Cas yells again. Dean looks up, expecting the army to come closer, but they have all stopped. They are watching him, confused. It seems no one expected this, but Dean doesn't care. He told Sam he'd carry his burden, and he's not going back on a promise. Not to his dying baby brother.

Dean stands and faces the Gates of Hell, reciting what Sam was too weak to say. The Gates glow brighter, and Dean feels the poison inside him drawing him in. He aches to walk into hell. It doesn't matter now that he'll die, or that Sam will die, or that Cas will be killed by the oncoming horde. All that matters is that they are here. Together. Fighting. Saving the world. Changing the world. No more hunters, no more monsters. Maybe they're saying goodbye, but they're giving the world a second chance. And Dean thinks that maybe, just maybe, that justifies everything. Maybe, after all of this, he really is a good man. 

In death reborn.


End file.
